resourceful play, every day

My sister is presently living in Nagishot, South Sudan, and just posted some amazing photographs...of course, I was instantly drawn to the "traditional goat skin skirt" she photographed during an all-day celebration:

 The texture and color reminded me of a suede Bonnie Cashin skirt i once saw...i did a little reading and saw that in the mid 60's  Bonnie Cashin was specifically designing clothes inspired by African and Modern Art...i love how Modern and Tribal Art are often grouped together...like the collections of the de Menils in Houston...if you have to technical before you can get "primitive," it becomes Modern?...but i digress...

Bonnie Cashin added never seen before hardware to her designs, and famously introduced the famous toggle on the Coach bags and accessible designed clothes for women...the skirt above is referred to as a "dog leash skirt" in a Corbis caption...often in African dress, you see all sorts of objects resourcefully incorporated into traditional regalia...not only do i appreciate her designs, but i love her simple box of simple motivational phrases....

...thankful for the play and resourcefulness in the world.

tis the season to be wanting things...

I still think etsy is the best site to find hand-made stuff.  Period. 

 

And making treasuries is a pain...but i made one today, with some really cute stuff! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leathery's treasury

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nstarstudio

WashboardFelts

ohlittlerabbit

Bird and Bloke

I haven't been taking any photographs...but i love this Bird and Bloke one...as much as i love Fall, i guess i am ready for a good Winter.

or leather co

 

very positive time at Oregon Leather Co. in Portland, and then in Eugene...i got great scraps, friendly service, and i am glad this place is not closer to my house because i would buy WAY too much leather...luckily my husband was there to take some photos...the yellow elk hide in the foreground of the middle photo was used to make my latest bag that i am in love with...i like to let the shape of the hide decide what that bag will become...check it out: Leathery on etsy

portland is green

Green is more than a color, green plants give us oxygen, green material things should keep green plants happy, and the making of green things should be in a green building, and i would like to make things in this green building and be a factory girl because "only through focus and repetition can we achieve expertise in an area leading to larger manifestation of goals, be they physical or ideological" -Anodea Judith...

...i would work in a handmade leather bicycle saddle factory because i loved all the leather on the bicycles in the Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle exhibit...

 

and i don't know if it is green or not to have the world's smallest park...it seems like something Mr. Burns of the Simpsons would do out of spite...but it is mildly amusing and engulfed in a sea of green practices and pretty parks...

Portland, OR: home of the world's smallest park! by TATIANA WILLS

 speaking of "engulfed" my husband is back cleaning up the oil at ye' old oil spill in the Gulf...no, not the one in the Middle East...as a native Texan, I call the Gulf of Mexico THE gulf...and I call ditches "bayous." Miss you Portland, and husband, and bayous...but these green links have kept me inspired today:

Guerrila Gardening? Why didn't I think of that!

URBAN HOUSTON PERMACULTURE

PERMACULTURE ABQ

darker white

silent still

of earliest call
white out

As the celebrations Dia de los Muertos, Samhain, and All Souls Day pass, we honor lives past as our year moves into the shorter darker days. White reflects all the colors, while black absorbs. Moving into shorter and darker days is a time for reflecting back all the colorful world we have absorbed, careful not to let the long dark nights steal your inspiration, careful not to lose gifts from those passing in the dark. 

 

thanks Caleb Days for the haiku.

the known and unknown

Artist Grayson Perry was given every museum nerds dream: full access to the British Museum collections. For The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsmen, he also had to pair his own creations to curate an exhibit. No need for me to write about it, his description is fantastic:

Pilgrimage to the British Museum. Ink and graphite, 2011 © Grayson Perry. Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, London

"I had been given permission to translate a vague fantasy into an increasingly daunting reality. I feared it was a fantasy that perhaps I had not thoroughly thought through, one that involved dozens if not hundreds of other people, many of them extremely knowledgeable...I feared I would be seen as an ignorant interloper by the people who spend their lives learning about and caring for the collection. I thought they might see me as a trendy Thor Heyerdahl, falling into easy but spurious cross-cultural comparisons, misinterpreting objects. These were people whose careers were forged from accurate knowledge collated on many arduous field trips or from years of painstaking research and in I would come for a few hours and say "Ooh I like that, what fun!" Did I see them flinch?... All I could do was choose the things that fascinated and delighted me."

Thor Heyerdahl-KON TIKI

Makes you want to go exploring in search of undiscovered beautiful works of art...jump on the KON TIKI and head for South America...or to France,  to view the Chauvet Cave ...breathtaking...the earliest unknown artist. 

deer dog

prematurely, desert dog considers preparing for the Yaqui ritual of his native Sonoran desert.

we are off to Oregon for the week...going to camp, visit hot springs, and get our city on in Portland...excited about getting some art and culture in...i am particularly taken with Nikki McClure right now...thanks to Shipwreck in Eureka...un abrazo.